1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a seal for a can or other similar container such as a metal can used for storage of beverages such as soft drinks, beer, juices, etc. More particularly, the present invention relates to a thin film, removably adhered to the top of such cans for preventing contamination of the drinking area surrounding the pull or lift tab and the opening made thereby in the top of the can. Specifically, the present invention is a thin film that covers and either seats within or spans over the circumferential groove in the top of the can around its periphery where the film extends up the inner surface of the outer rim or lip on the top of the can and also extends inward adjacent the pull or lift tab to cover the depressible door under the pull or lift tab, while the entire thin film is designed to still allow for both stacking of the can with an identical can as is well known in the industry, and connecting multiple cans together using "6-pack" rings or the equivalent thereof as is well known in the industry.
2. Background Information
It is well known in the food and beverage/drink industry to store food and drink in various containers for a variety of reasons. These reasons include convenient storing, packaging and transporting of the food and beverages both in bulk for wholesale and in small quantities for retail sale to consumers. As is well known, beverages are a very popular item to be stored in containers and made available in many convenient locations. Examples include soft drinks, beer, juices, etc. Consumers demand these beverages be made available through vending machines and food counters, at restaurants and in grocery stores, in ball parks and arenas, etc. So as to provide a consumer friendly size and shape that is easily used in the vending machines as well as through retail establishments, and for easy consumer purchase and transportation in dividable bulk, the beverage industry invented the cylindrical shaped, closed ended can as is well known in the industry as a soda or pop can.
This soda or pop can is generally cylindrical in shape although it may vary into other similar shapes. This soda or pop can is further generally manufactured of a metal such as aluminum, tin, steel, or other well known metals having the necessary properties of can formation including high strength, light weight, thin walled capability, corrosion resistance, etc. This soda or pop can is often of a twelve (12) or sixteen (16) ounce variety although numerous other sizes are well known in the art including eight (8), twenty (20), twenty-four (24) and thirty-two (32) ounce sizes.
In design, these soda or pop cans generally have a pair of opposed spaced apart end walls with a cylindrical shape side wall therebetween, one of the end walls includes an access means that is typically embodied as some form of pull or lift tab adjacent a removable or depressible door with a score line therearound for defining an aperture when removed or depressed. These soda or pop cans are generally designed such that the cylindrical side wall tapers inward into an axially outward circular lip or rim. Depending upon the manufacturing process, this rim may be the bead where the side wall and end wall was compressed together during manufacture, but in any case this rim is necessary for stacking as the upper rim, that is the rim corresponding with the end wall having the depressible door therein, is of a larger diameter than the lower rim, that is the other rim which lacks any door or tab, so as to receive a lower end wall from an other can and thereby allow for stacking thereof. Each end wall is perpendicularly positioned inside the circular lip or rim, offset axially into the can to define an indented end pocket that serves as a seat for another can, and extends radially inward from the side wall and bead combination to a central axis of the can thereby enclosing the ends of the can. Each end wall includes a circular trough adjacent the bead which is formed as part of the can making process.
It is well known that these cans encounter dirt and other contaminants during manufacture, assembly or filling, transportation and storage. As is often the case, dirt and other contaminants are deposited in the indented end pocket on the end wall, and particularly along the rim or lip, and in the trough. This is problematic in that the depressible door and the area therearound always comes in contact with the liquid contents when these contents are poured out of the can, whether directly into the mouth of a consumer or alternatively into another container for consumption therefrom. In addition, when the liquid is directly consumed from the can, the mouth and specifically the lips are often placed in direct contact with the can including the rim and the trough. It is the din and other contaminants on this rim and trough that are of concern to many consumers.
Many solutions have been proposed, each of which has achieved, in varying degrees, at least some improvement to the general state of the art. However, all of the prior art has failed to produce an improved beverage can seal that effectively eliminates the dirt and other contaminants from the repressible door and area adjacent thereto as well as the rim and trough while not otherwise affecting the can design.
Numerous of these solution attempts have been patented including U.S. U.S. Pat. No. 1,878,677 (Curtis, 1930), U.S. Pat. No. 3,204,805 (May, 1963), U.S. Pat. No. 3,438,533 (Hanisch, 1969), U.S. Pat. No. 3,637,104 (Dutnell, 1972), U.S. Pat. No. 3,690,509 (Kinoian, 1972), Re 27,518 (Brown, 1972), U.S. Pat. No. 3,812,993 (Yoshioka, 1974), U.S. Pat. No. 3,990,615 (Kerwin, 1976), U.S. Pat. No. 4,002,516 (Gaborieau, 1977), D259,403 (Frazier, 1981), U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,804 (Pease, 1984), U.S. Pat. No. 4,511,057 (Tontarelli, 1985), U.S. Pat. No. 4,705,186 (Barrash, 1987), U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,257 (Deline, 1987), U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,270 (Main, 1990), U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,304 (Corey, 1990), U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,260 (Heyes, 1990), U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,048 (Howard, 1990), U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,869 (Hammond, 1991), U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,003 (Granofsky, 1992), U.S. Pat. No. 5,119,955 (Granofsky, 1992), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,292,022 (Blanco, 1994). These patents focus on all different types of devices for sealing containers, providing sterile drinking containers, providing protective covers, supplying closures for cans, providing hygienic covers for cans, providing easy opening cans, providing for convenience opening of cans, providing a mechanism for resealing cans, providing caps that temporarily hermetically reseal cans, and so on.
Although each of these prior art inventions achieves at least some of its stated objectives, these prior art inventions do not solve the current problems associated with beverage and similar cans, and/or each have disadvantages associated with its manufacture or use. These current problems and disadvantages are apparent as none of the prior art inventions is commercialized as a solution to the contaminants problem that plagues soda or pop cans. This is readily apparent in that soda or pop cans come lacking of any seal, and cleanliness concerned consumers are readily seen washing, wiping or otherwise cleaning the tops of the cans prior to drinking.